SBA 504 Restaurant Feasibility Study in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's leading 504 class

Full-service restaurants in Wisconsin form the first-ranked class under the state's SBA 504 lending, 1 of 39, counting 134 loans and $90.1 million gross across FY2017 to FY2026. Wisconsin is 8th among states for the pairing. Because 504 finances fixed assets such as land, buildings and long-lived equipment, these are owner-occupied restaurant properties, not working-capital deals. A median of $513,000 is 0.85x the national 504 median, and half the loans fall between $277,500 and $859,750. Only 8.2% of loans are franchised.

The lender table under 504 lists certified development companies, and one dominates: WBD, Inc. with 115 loans, then Racine County Economic Development Corporation with 12. SBA reports the current holder, so these are counts of what each holds or held, not a ranking of quality. A Wisconsin restaurant owner seeking 504 funding will most likely meet one of these two. Milwaukee County leads with 19 loans, Waukesha follows at 17 and Dane at 12, then Brown, Kenosha and Saint Croix with 7 each.

Floors and swings in volume

Cancellation took at least 8.0% of Wisconsin restaurant approvals across FY2017 to FY2024, and the ceiling matches. For the 55 loans in the funded cohort of FY2017 to FY2021, charge-offs sit at a floor of 0.00% for both measures. That reports no charge-off yet on record, not an absence of risk. Volume lurched from 24 loans and $14.9 million in FY2022 to 5 loans and $1.9 million in FY2023, then settled at 17 in each of FY2025 and FY2026. A project study ought to place its own timing against that swing.

What a Wisconsin 504 restaurant study must prove

The real estate gets equal weight with the operation. The building and site must stand as collateral, so compare construction or purchase cost with market value and ask whether another restaurant operator could take the space if the first fails. Traffic and competition at the site are tested directly. The operating forecast needs covers per day, average check, food and labor cost and a ramp. Debt service coverage must reflect the bank's and the development company's pieces together, and the study should state what share of sales the owner expects to come from dining rooms, takeout or catering, since each behaves differently in a slow year. The class carries no coding caveat of its own.